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You ve probably noticed some of our differences on your own,
Janko said. You just didn t realize their significance.
Like our agility in the water, Ivar said. He bit back a naughty
smile, and she remembered how long he d stayed under without
having to come up for air. She didn t want to get distracted, so she
didn t dwell on what he d been doing at the time.
The Grenadine Islands are full of our people, Daq continued.
As are the Caymans, where Cyra spends most of her time, and a
number of other spots, even the Florida Keys and certain remote areas
off the coasts of Maine and Canada. We have made our home in the
sea since ancient times, and geographically speaking, we ve spread
out. Even we re not sure where all of our brethren live, or how many
of us there are.
Ejan spoke next. We ve learned to keep ourselves hidden
merge with mainstream culture. Islands are best, we ve found,
because people come and go without paying much attention to anyone
else or invading anyone s privacy. Yet some of us are fully integrated
into modern society and even live in coastal cities, passing as human.
You might have met Aquans and never suspected a thing.
Maura could hardly believe what she was hearing. Was this some
sort of huge joke they were playing on her? They certainly sounded
70 Cassandra Pierce
serious. Were all of them just delusional? Were they part of an
esoteric cult?
Because we can go pretty much anywhere underwater, we started
off by helping Septimus with his research, Tagin added. We could
bring him specimens and investigate things in a way humans can t.
Gradually, we confided more and more of the details to him. A lot of
it he figured out himself.
Maura thought back to the journal entries she d found so puzzling
at the time. Now they made sense. He was jotting down and verifying
their story. Had he been able to tell if any of it was true?
She doesn t care about our long and distinguished history,
Janko said, laughing. What she really wants to ask about is the whole
multiple-partner thing. Right, Maura?
Well& it is kind of unique, you have to admit.
It s our custom, Daq said with a nod. Our primary social unit
consists of one woman and a group of men who come together
voluntarily. We ve done things that way for thousands of years. He
answered her next question before she had a chance to ask it. There s
no jealousy between us because we re all connected. It s not exactly
what human call a psychic link, but more of a subconscious bond that
keeps us together. Sharing a woman feels as natural to us as living in
a cooperative pod. Historical reasons exist for the tradition, but I
won t get into those now.
Ivar s smile widened. Woman shortage, he confided. No need
to dance around it. For some reason, there have always been more
male Aquans than females. And our females don t care for
domesticity. They tend to take off and leave us guys to cultivate the
coral gardens.
This, perhaps, explained the apparent wanderlust of both Cyra and
Ejan s mother. She wondered if Daq and Cyra s own mother had
really been killed in a storm, as Cyra had told her, or if she had
allowed herself to be washed away. The bond Daq spoke of probably
Diamonds in the Sand 71
accounted for the relationship between Tagin and Ejan, too. They d
simply taken things to the next level but left room for her.
We wouldn t force pod life on anyone, of course, Janko went
on. Personally, we think it s the best way, but some humans might
not agree, and that s fine. There are a lot of pods, though, with a
human woman at the center.
So that s what Cyra meant when she said her other lovers had
chosen someone unsuitable.
Janko nodded. Exactly. She was hoping they d pine over her
forever after she took off on them. As it turned out, they decided not
to wait around. Can t really blame them. Sorry, Daq.
Never mind Cyra. The mention of his sister made Daq visibly
annoyed again. I plan to deal with her later.
Actually, I m glad she told me, Maura said. I d thought all
along that something wasn t quite& right, but of course I never
expected anything like this! Another realization struck her then. Did
you start to tell me that Septimus knew all about this?
Yes, Daq said. He s known Cyra and me since we were young,
but Janko came later, and Tagin and Ejan are fairly new additions to
our family unit. He didn t grasp all the details right away, but over the
years he was able to put a lot together on his own. Eventually, we told
him everything. He d taught us so much that we wanted to give
something back to him. Besides, we felt he would understand the
situation and protect us.
Of course he would. Maura thought again about the
mythological tales he d entertained Irissa s party guests with. He d
spoken only in general terms, she was sure, and no one had taken him
seriously anyhow.
Or had they?
A troubled feeling came over her. She knew now what Septimus
had wanted to tell her about once she arrived on the island. He d
called it the most amazing discovery he d ever made or even heard of.
And he hadn t exaggerated. An entirely new race of people, if true,
72 Cassandra Pierce
constituted nothing less than a total paradigm shift that could affect
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